The present invention relates to electrical and optical connectors, and more particularly to a connector providing electrical and optical interfaces which will operate in the presence of seawater which is trapped in the connector during underwater connection and disconnection.
In my U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,767, (which is incorporated herein by reference) I have disclosed an underwater coaxial connector having a penetrable seal enclosing a socket element which is disposed in a chamber filled with dielectric fluid. The seal permits repeated cycyling of the connector underwater without loss of dielectric fluid into the water or water leakage into the fluid.
In my U.S. patent application Ser. No. 482,919 filed on Apr. 7, 1983 and entitled "UNDERWATER CONNECTOR", I have described an improved connector which is adaptable to provide either a watertight electrical connection or a watertight optical connection for interconnecting optical fibers or both. The connector described in my patent application altered my connector seal design which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,767 by incorporating an end seal arrangement consisting of a neck bladder, a rubber grommet, and a muscle which keeps the neck of the seal closed, thereby preventing leakage of water into the connector or escape of an internal dielectric fluid from the connector seal.
While the underwater connectors of my U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,767 and my U.S. patent application Ser. No. 482,919 do represent significant improvements over prior art underwater coaxial connectors, both require the use of construction methods and materials which tend to increase the costs and complexity of manufacture. While there are many deployment applications having operational requirements which justify the use of my aforementioned disclosed connectors, it would be useful to provide an underwater electro-optical connector characterized and having a simplified design making the connector inexpensive and easy to manufacture, assemble, and use. As much of the complexity of the aforementioned connectors rests on the objective of preventing the intrusion of seawater into the connection interface, the relaxation or elimination of this requirement would greatly simplify the connector design.
Therefore, there exists an evident need for an electro-optical connector for use underwater and characterized in having both a simple design and the ability to operate when seawater is trapped in its electrooptical interface.